Fused and Confused
by Luna Knightwolf
Summary: When Naruto and Sasuke lose their lives in their final battle together, well, they don't really die. A new tale starts when they find their spirits locked within the mindscape of a young shinobi named Tsunari.
1. Chapter 0

**Chapter 0  
**

Ashen grey clouds had covered the sky above, wind wailing through the crevices of the rocky mountain walls that surrounded the area and rain fell like little pebbles being tossed upon the world below. Water whipped up around two male's, standing infront of one another facing off against each other. Both looked rather beaten and worn down, marks of the obvious battle that were going on between the two. Red and black eyes stared back towards cerulean blue, both looking rather determined at what they were about to do. Lightning lit up the sky, revealing the two shinobi down below, but the thunder went unheard by the sudden sound of a thousand chirping birds.

"Why...Why must it always come to this!? Why can't you just butt out and leave me alone!?" yelled the raven haired male, or to most others as Sasuke Uchiha. Within his hand blue lightning jumped around sparking the waters around them. His counter part, or opponent in this case, the blonde Uzumaki standing ready stared during the entire question readied himself his own attack, the Rasengan.

"You wanna know why Teme? Just look back at our earlier fights, the conversations we had...you'll fi..."

"Oh don't sputter your nonsense about bonds!" Sasuke yelled rather annoyed. "I broke those bonds that we had long ago and you know that. And what…do you think Konoha would welcome me back with open arms, I don't think so! So just shut up you idiot and get out of my way!" he yelled before he pushed off the water and ran in the direction of Naruto. Naruto only stared, saddened by his friend, his teammate, someone who he saw as a brother denied that he had broken such a bond that he had thought was so strong between the two of them.

"I'm not leaving here without you...that bond is still there, I know it is!" Naruto yelled watching as the Uchiha advanced upon him. The way the other male was running towards him brought back memories of when they had first fought here in the Valley of the End. It was like watching the scene all over again only they were older. The same thing happened this time as well, Naruto had conjured up a rasengan and after a few seconds of reminiscing he forced his feet to move as well.

As the two males clashed together, the water around them rose to new heights creating a large wave from around them. Both stood staring at each other, eyes locked as if knowing what was going to happen after this. With that thought in mind, Naruto was hardly aware Sasuke was right in front of him, or any of the pain that suddenly coursed through his body. Well, that was until he sputtered a bit and blood seeped from between his lips, the rasengan dispersing from his hand and vanishing. His cerulean eyes glanced down to where he saw Sasuke's arm planted right into his body, just slightly off from his heart he could figure. His gaze drifted back up towards Sasuke gaze, in which he noted a very similar pained look upon the raven haired males face.

"Heh…guess this is it, huh teme?" Naruto stated sounded rather weak at that moment. Sasuke really couldn't care less, but it pissed him off that he had lost to Naruto like this. He still had unfinished business to tend to, and this didn't help at all.

"F…For you maybe." He stated. Sasuke glanced down towards Naruto's arm that was planted right through his chest, he quickly glanced back up and pulled his arm free from Naruto's chest, stumbling back and releasing Naruto's from his own.

"This isn't over….dobe…" he stated thinking he'd be able to walk out of there, but as his vision blurred, the both of them slowly fell to the waters below breathing their last breaths.

"No…far from it…" Naruto managed in a whisper before completely falling into darkness.

**12 years later**

* * *

A black haired twelve year old student sat half asleep in class. He was listening to what Iruka had to say about the final part of their exam they'd have to take to graduate. Yawning, cerulean blue eyes glanced around at the other students before closing once again, the males head bobbing up and down slightly. The class had just gotten done doing the first two parts of the final exam, they were now moving onto the final part.

"Okay class, I'm going to start naming you off in alphabetical order. Then I want you to come up and perform the clone jutsu…"

From somewhere deep within the black haired male's mind came a voice as loud and as quick as anything.

"_Hey! I remember this!" _

The male bolted upright, cerulean eyes going wide as he yelled, "WILL YOU SHUT UP ALREADY!"

Iruka glanced up quickly staring, though he only closed his eyes and ground his teeth together as he tried to stay as calm as possible, didn't really work too well considering what came from him next. He glanced up and then yelled;

"TSUNARI!"


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Laughter, it was everywhere at this point having gone from complete silence to filling the room. Tsunari's cerulean eyes glanced around the entire class, a glare creeping over the twelve year olds features. He didn't like being laughed at, and it wasn't his fault either, but his attention went over towards Iruka again when he finally managed to remember that he had yelled out his name.

"Sensei…I…I didn't mean you, I mean…"

"Come here…" Iruka said as he kept eye contact with the black haired student of his. This wasn't exactly the first time he's had an outburst like this, but normally they weren't that loud or that insulting. Tsunari on the other hand just let out a groan and forced his feet to move as he got out of his seat and walked down to the front of the class. When he was standing in front of Iruka, he glanced up and stared for a second before looking off to the side.

"I thought we were going in alphabetical order." Tsunari stated with a huff as he crossed his arms and kept his gaze on something other than his sensei and the rest of his class.

"We are, but is everything alright? You've been acting quite strange lately." Iruka asked out of worry for his young pupil.

"Yeah…fine…"

"_Come on Iruka-sensei, give the kid a break…" _

"There it is again, will you shut up…whoever you are."

Iruka blinked when Tsunari began speaking to himself once again, or to some invisible person. He sighed and wondered if he really was alright. The class however, they burst into another fit of laughter causing Tsunari to glance back behind him with a deadly glare towards the rest of the class.

"_Good going Dobe…why can't you just keep your mouth shut?" _The sound of a smack could be heard from the recesses of Tsunari's mind just as this was stated.

_"Ow, what, I was just saying…."_

"It's not like they can hear you, and you're making the kid look like he's insane."

"_I'm only saying…."  
_

"What…there's two of you now?" Cerulean eyes widened in fear, was he really going insane and losing his mind. If this was the case was he going to be able to graduate the academy and become a shinobi like he wanted? He hoped he would, he didn't want something like this ruining his dream of becoming the number one shinobi in the entire world. His wide eyed gaze drifted back up towards his sensei who was now looking at him with both worry and concern, it was definitely a look that Tsunari did not like. "Hehe, it's okay Iruka-sensei, I'm fine…I just don't think I got enough sleep the night before." He stated reaching up and running his hand through the back of his hair a bit nervously. Hopefully his sensei would fall for it and just continue on with the testing.

Iruka just sighed and shook his head, "Even so, I recommend that maybe you go talk to someone. It may do you some good."

"Insulting much…" Came all three voices, well…to everyone in the classroom was Tsunari's voice, but in Tsunari's mind were the other two. This made his smiling face drop into an irritated frown.

"I think you're right sensei, maybe I'll talk to Shika-tan or Miss Ino after class…" He sighed.

"Alright, well since your up here you might as well get the last part of the exam out of the way. All you have to do is create one perfect clone of yourself." Iruka said, he really hoped he would talk to one of them. But, with that thought now past, Iruka stepped back away from Tsunari and leaned against the desk that was behind him awaiting to see if Tsunari would be able to pull it off. He really had no doubt about it though, the kid was pretty smart for his age…heck, he rivaled Shikamaru to say the least. Though as he thought up that, his gaze stayed locked upon his student.

Tsunari on the other hand he watched his sensei for a few seconds before he turned his back to him and gave a nod, at least he could get it done and over with and be able to sit back down quicker. His hands rising right in front of him creating a cross hand-sign, similar to that of Naruto's, getting ready to do the shadow clone.

"_Hey, that's my hand…oof…" _

Another smacking sound could be heard from within Tsunari's thoughts, this caused Tsunari to sigh and try to ignore it for the time being before he nodded. A puff of smoke enveloped the area where a clone should have appeared, but in the place of one were four perfectly created clones. He lowered his hands and turned and glanced at them before he looked towards Iruka.

Well, what he saw on Iruka's face was not what he was expecting. His sensei's jaw was practically to the floor and his eyes were wide as if seeing something amazing for the first time.

"Um, Iruka-sensei?" Tsunari asked curiously, "Are you alright?" The clones dispersed after a few seconds of standing there, Tsunari walking over and poking Iruka in the side. "Iruka-sensei…" He stated once more, causing the other male to shake his head and glance down.

"Wh…tha…I've only seen one person other than the typical jounin able to use that technique…" He paused a moment and then tilted his head, "Is that why you look so much like Naruto?" He asked quietly, mostly to himself.

"Who?"

"Oh, never mind…go sit down." He stated, this caused a huff from Tsunari.

"If you're going to say something about someone, at least explain who better." He stated crossing his arms, though he glanced back before walking to his seat and said, "And do I pass or not?" He asked curiously.

"Oh, yeah, you pass…" Iruka felt like a complete idiot at that point for not even stating this. "Congratulations…" He stated before handing over the headband to Tsunari, who took it rather quickly and stared at it. He was glad that him talking to himself and bursting out with random sentences like he did, didn't ruin his chance of becoming a shinobi. But even with that, he trudged back to his seat and plopped down in it. It was true, Tsunari did look like Naruto. His hair was black yet it was spikey like Naruto's, and he had Naruto's cerulean eyes. He did not however have the whisker marks, but he did seem to have a similar fashion sense to Sasuke. It was like he was a combination of the two.

"_He looks like me? If anything I thought he looked like you Teme…" _

_"Just shut up…" _

Tsunari let his head hit the desk right after he sat down and groaned a little. "Please…for my sanity shut up…" he whispered to himself as he listened to other names being called to go down and perform the clone jutsu. Though he was pretty sure everyone was looking at him and wondering exactly how they were going to out do him with the jutsu, when he himself had performed something that only Jounin knew and one other person, this Naruto guy, whoever he was. It was making him curious if one of the voices wasn't this Naruto guy, but what was said after stated that he looked like him. Shaking the thought, Tsunari just tried to ignore the voices for the time being and get through class.

**~End of Class~**

After school had ended, things really didn't get any easier. Of course, they got the entire week off for graduation and then they'd get to meet their new sensei's, but it was on his way out did he really just want to go somewhere and curl up and just die. Through the entire rest of the day, the other students had laughed at him or whispered things about him, he was sure they were about his outbursts and there was really nothing that anyone could do about it except for him yelling at them, but he held that back as best he could.

Sighing, Tsunari walked the streets slowly after class a few students running by and making comments.

"Hey…loved the yelling in class today! Should have done it more often!" He'd hear that quite a bit. His only response would be to yell back;

"Shut up…I wasn't doing it on purpose." He could see the laughter amongst the other kids as they listened to him explain it, though it only seemed to damper his mood a bit more. Turning the corner and stuffing his hands in the pockets of his shorts, Tsunari went to go speak with Ino. She'd probably know more about this than anyone, maybe, but he wasn't too sure at this moment. He just wanted someone to talk to, and maybe he'd help out in her flower shop. Shrugging it off, he pushed open the door listening to the bell signal his arrival before looking at all the flower.

"Ah, Tsunari-kun…"

"Hi Miss Ino." A small smile came across his face as he glanced over towards the blonde behind the counter. She was currently helping a customer with some sort of flower arrangement and he wasn't about to get in the middle of it.

"Give me just a moment and I'll be right with you okay."

_"She's more perky than I remember…" _

"_I wouldn't know, she seems just as annoying as ever to me." _

"_Every girl was annoying to you, heck…every person was annoying to you." _

"You mind not having a conversation in my head, you guys aren't even real." He stated before the customer was finished and leaving and Ino coming over to him. He smiled and made it look as if he wasn't talking to himself just a second ago.

"You alright?" Ino asked giving a curious yet slightly concerned look towards him as she wiped off her hands on her apron.

"Fine, just…Iruka-sensei wanted me to talk to someone, he says I've been acting a little weird lately. I feel a little weird to say the least." He stated before Ino spotted the headband protector that was dangling from his waist.

"Oh, you managed to graduate, I had no doubts that you would." She stated excitedly, "Congratulations Tsunari." Though what he had said gave her a curious look as well, "But, what's on your mind, really…you seem rather troubled today, and today you shouldn't be troubled, you should be rejoicing or celebrating, or something." She stated with a small smile on her face. Tsunari just stared for a second before shrugging and turning towards a few roses that were sitting off to his side a bit. He stared at them not really wanting to look Ino in the eye at the moment afraid of the looks he would get.

"Well, if you promise to keep it between me and you, um…I feel like I'm hearing voices…two of them and they're always arguing and I can't seem to make them stop or go away, luckily though they haven't answered me at all…" he stated as he fiddled with a leaf on one of the flowers.

"_Well, you haven't been very nice to us, telling us to shut up and all." _

"_Enough Dobe!" _

"See, there they are again…wait, it just spoke to me…" He glanced at Ino with this sad and worried look upon his face, "Am I really going insane?" He asked with a slight whine, he didn't want to be going insane, not now that he had just graduated the academy. Then again, he didn't want to be going insane at all, never ever. That wouldn't look good on a shinobi record at all. A sigh had come from the blonde female before him, she stared and thought for a few moments.

"Maybe you're just stressed out from the graduation exams, maybe you're just exhausted." She stated thinking silently to herself a little more wondering what they could do. "Though, if you're truly worried about it…I or my father could take a quick look to make sure no one is invading your mind for whatever reason." She stated, Tsunari stared for a second and then down at the ground.

"You don't think anyone could be invading my thoughts or anything do you? I mean, if there's a chance that could be happening I want to make sure that it stops and that I have my own thoughts back." Tsunari stated quickly. Ino just gave a smile before she gave a nod, "Oh, and could you do it please…I would feel more comfortable about it." Tsunari added quickly as an after thought.

"_Check for invading persons?" _One of the voices stated rather slowly.

"_You know, if you would have just kept your mouth shut this would have never happened. We could have let ourselves be known slowly and not make the kid think he was insane like he does." _

"_But, the sooner the better right, and we've been trying for the past few years to get his attention." _

"They're arguing again…" Tsunari whined as he then said, "Stop it…You're not real."

"_Oh, we're real." _The more annoyed one stated causing Tsunari to go really silent and still for a moment. The voice had just answered him, this wasn't good.

"Can we just get started already?"

"Alright, give me a few moments to close stuff down. Go sit in the back room and I'll be in in a second." Ino turned and went to go lock the front door and close up for the rest of the afternoon. She guessed that whatever she found, good or bad that it would be better for Tsunari to know what's going on in his head. Tsunari turned in the other direction and went into the back room, finding a stray chair and sitting down on it. His hands folded in his lap as he waited patiently.

It only took a few minutes before Ino came into the back room herself. She was sliding off the apron she was wearing and then hung it on the wall in there. She glanced at Tsunari who was watching her every move. She came over and knelt down in front of the chair and she smiled.

"Don't worry, this won't hurt. I'm just going to use my Mind Transfer Jutsu for a few moments just to take a sneak peek at what's going on in that head of yours." She saw the nod come from Tsunari knowing he probably knew what she was talking about at this point.

"_Here we go…remember, this is your fault Dobe." _

"_Hmph…"_

She raised her hands putting them together in what looked like a slight circular shape before saying, "Mind Transfer Jutsu." At this point, both went limp but at this point Ino was now within Tsunari's mindscape.

**~Within Tsunari's Mindscape~**

Ino stood within a large room now, dimly lit by the torches that surrounded it and what looked like kanji seals surrounding the walls on every side of her. It must have been how Tsunari's mindscape looked once inside it she figured. But that's not what she was paying attention to. Her gaze however was locked on the two figures in the distance, her eyes wide with surprise and shock. Two people she hadn't seen since forever it seemed were standing there arguing over something, but she couldn't seem to make her feet move to get closer to hear it. However, she did manage to get a few words out.

"Naruto…Sasuke-kun…" It was all she managed to get out, but it was enough to make the two males before her turn and stare right back at her. It was only Naruto who raised a hand and waved.

"Hey…"


End file.
